Well, Cole's line is out. It came out last night and they started an IV at the same point. Before they took the line out, though, they topped him off with some red blood, so hopefully he'll be feeling even better.
Dalynn and I are now planning on being in the hospital for at least another week, perhaps longer. One of the doctors has made noises about us going home soon, but we're not putting much stock in that. Our thinking is that we may just opt to stay in for another week.
The reason is that his ANC is going to be down below 500 and he starts cytaribine again on Thursday. With cytaribine, he seems to run a low grade fever. Since his ANC is below 500, if he does run a fever then that's an automatic trip to the hospital for an extended stay til such a time as either his counts come back up or his fever goes away for at least 24 hours. Consequently, we'd probably end up leaving the hospital for a day only to find ourselves right back in.
We've done that before (left the hospital for a day, only to turn right around and come back) and it's really just not worth it. It takes forever to get admitted, first off, and now we're "set up" at the hospital. We have a bunch of clothes there, food for Cole, we have toys from the play room and we have a room that we like. Why pack all that up, haul it home for a night, then go back?
So, we're looking at this as being in for the "long haul". Hopefully it won't be for more than a week, but if it is, we're prepared.
Showing posts with label line infection. Show all posts
Showing posts with label line infection. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Monday, April 14, 2008
It's the Line, Jim!
If you can pinpoint that title reference, then you're a true geek.
The second culture came back positive, so it's definitely a line infection. Further, since Cole's ANC dropped below 500 today, he's starting on IV anti-fungals.
Now, if you analyze that series of statements closely, you'll see that there's a problem. The quick treatment for a line infection is to remove the line. But, if we remove the line, how is he going to get the IV anti-fungals?
Well, the short answer is that they're going to put in an IV, but that means we can't go home since he must be at the hospital while he has an IV in. The possibility is that we'll be in the hospital for a bit.
Of course, they could always wait a few days and put in another line, such as a PICC line, for the duration of the IV anti-fungals, then pull that one as soon as he's done with the anti-fungals. But, really, another line... I guess I'm OK with that, but I'll be happy the day that we can put all lines behind us. They're such a pain, though they do allow for some convenience and less pain.
Even after all of Cole's lines are pulled, though, he'll still need to have IV access at least once a month for his Vincristine, but we're planning on just letting them put in an IV while he's at clinic. At this point, with all the troubles we've had with lines we feel that the down-side of the pain is balanced by the lack of an infection vector. I hate to do it to him but I know he can handle it. Still, that whole logic seems cold to me...
So, they're pulling his CVL tonight. I do have to take this moment, though, to stop and thank God for the fact that we rode that CVL for 2 months. It was a temporary, and it should have lasted 3 weeks tops. To get it to function for 2 months with as little trouble as we did have (it only had to be TPA'ed twice, for instance) is nigh on miraculous.
The second culture came back positive, so it's definitely a line infection. Further, since Cole's ANC dropped below 500 today, he's starting on IV anti-fungals.
Now, if you analyze that series of statements closely, you'll see that there's a problem. The quick treatment for a line infection is to remove the line. But, if we remove the line, how is he going to get the IV anti-fungals?
Well, the short answer is that they're going to put in an IV, but that means we can't go home since he must be at the hospital while he has an IV in. The possibility is that we'll be in the hospital for a bit.
Of course, they could always wait a few days and put in another line, such as a PICC line, for the duration of the IV anti-fungals, then pull that one as soon as he's done with the anti-fungals. But, really, another line... I guess I'm OK with that, but I'll be happy the day that we can put all lines behind us. They're such a pain, though they do allow for some convenience and less pain.
Even after all of Cole's lines are pulled, though, he'll still need to have IV access at least once a month for his Vincristine, but we're planning on just letting them put in an IV while he's at clinic. At this point, with all the troubles we've had with lines we feel that the down-side of the pain is balanced by the lack of an infection vector. I hate to do it to him but I know he can handle it. Still, that whole logic seems cold to me...
So, they're pulling his CVL tonight. I do have to take this moment, though, to stop and thank God for the fact that we rode that CVL for 2 months. It was a temporary, and it should have lasted 3 weeks tops. To get it to function for 2 months with as little trouble as we did have (it only had to be TPA'ed twice, for instance) is nigh on miraculous.